North Korea Nuclear Weapon test

An article in the New York Times described the claim made by North Korea regarding their Nuclear weapon test. This claim was met with dismay even among North Korea's allies. In response to this announcement President Bush has met with leaders from China, South Korea, Russia and Japan who all agree that this act was unacceptable.
Scientists noted that while an explosion did occur, the size and power should be questioned. While this explosion had power equal to approximately one kiloton, a successful nuclear test would be expected to have about ten to sixty times as much impact. Philip E. Coyle III, former head of weapons testing at the Pentagon, said “As first tests go, this is smaller and less successful than the other nuclear powers.” He continued to comment on how this may or may not have been intentional, which remains to be seen. Russia’s minister of defense’s assessment of the explosion was quite different; it recorded the blast as having a power of five to fifteen kilotons.
While this action has put North Korea under the microscope, President Bush is also receiving some criticisms. Senator Harry Reid, a democratic leader in Nevada showed his disapproval of the trial, but also said that the Bush administration had been in denial about North Korea. The senator shared his opinion that a comprehensive review of American policy towards North Korea is necessary. Senator Dodd of Connecticut, and Senator Kennedy of Massachusetts both think that a diplomatic approach in which the allies of the US are involved is an important step. However some think that it is important that along with a diplomatic offense a nuclear-detection device should be developed by the United States.
If this test was a nuclear device, North Korea would be one of eight nations who have openly tested a nuclear weapon, and of the eight they would be the most dangerous and unstable.

This historical event is reminiscent of the Cuban Missile Crisis, during which the possession of nuclear weapons caused a major uproar. Like the test done in North Korea, Russia was very involved during the crisis (in this recent development Russia has been commenting on the size of the explosion, they have the largest estimation). In any situation where nuclear weapons are involved there will be a great deal of interest. It is interesting to see that once again the political administration is turning to diplomacy in hopes to deter the possible effects of the nuclear device testing in North Korea.
Also, in both situations the US has looked to its allies in order to build up a stronger front. Both today and in 1962, the importance of allies has been an essential factor in dealing with other countries. North Korea is at a disadvantage due to the reaction of their allies who were among those that did not agree with North Korea’s recent actions.